1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a water supply yoke which is intended to sprinkle water in an annular pattern on the ground around the drip-line, so called, beneath a trees outer foliage. It is specifically intended to keep water away from the inner soil around the trunk of a tree.
2. Description of Prior Art
A serious problem in the growing and cultivation of trees arises when a tree is attacked by disease and/or by animal life such as small worms and insects which live within its body. Such disease and attack is accentuated if the ground around the trunk, as well as the trunk itself, is permitted to be saturated with standing water. It is common practice with the average homeowner to water trees at the base of the trunk, frequently in a depression in the ground around the base. This practice promotes the debilitating disease and decay of a tree. The watering distribution device described herein is intended to eliminate this condition, thereby promoting the cultivation of healthy trees.
The preliminary search for possible similar or like devices which may already have been covered by patent disclosures resulted in the examination of the following patents:
______________________________________ (1) No. D253224 - Irrigator For Plants Filed 6/20/77 (2) No. D278075 - Plant Irrigator Filed 4/5/82 (3) No. D278076 - Root Irrigator Filed 6/23/82 (4) No. D303913 - Tree Soaker Filed 10/19/87 (5) No. D318403 - Tree Soaker Filed 7/11/89 (6) No. 4087938 - Tree Watering Device Filed 3/2/77 (7) No. 4199106 - Irrigation Hose Filed 7/31/78 (8) No. 4498627 - Spray Hoop Filed 8/30/82 ______________________________________
My examination of the above eight items leads to the following judgements:
(1) Des. 253224: This patent describes an annular manifold tube having sprinkler orifices distributed over its 360 degree circumference. It is designed to be placed over small plants which have limited height and foliage. Since it is not a split, open annulus it cannot be positioned around taller growing trees. This limitation frustrates the requirement to distribute water solely around the outer drip-line of the tree.
(2) Des. 278075: This patent describes a rigid, U-shaped rectangular three-sided manifold which can be positioned to fit around three sides of a tree, leaving the fourth side of the tree lacking in coverage of water. The manifold takes the form of an accordion section at the two corners joining the three straight sides. The manifold directs the water both inward, toward the tree trunk, as well as outward, away from the tree trunk, thereby frustrating the requirement to distribute water solely around the outer drip-line of the tree.
(3) Des. 278076: This patent descries a variation of the manifold of patent No. Des. 278075 described in (2) above. In this case the manifold, which is extremely similar to (2) above, is given the title "Root Irrigator"; its cross section is tubular in shape rather than square. This manifold also directs water from its sprinkler orifices both inward toward the tree trunk as well as outward, away from the tree trunk, thereby frustrating the requirement to distribute water solely around the outer drip-line of the tree.
(4) Des. 303913: This patent describes a flexible soaker-hose which can be positioned around a circle laid out beneath the drip-line of a tree, providing the tree has a drip-line circumference which will not exceed the maximum length of the soaker-hose. A problem arises should an uninformed user decide to coil this soaker-hose in a tightly-wound spiral close to the base of a tree trunk thereby encouraging the onset of disease and decay of a tree. Further, because of its unweildy size and bulk, this soaker-hose requires an unusually large storage compartment or shelf when not in use. When more than one soaker-hose is employed, this limitation increases the storage problem.
(5) Des. 318403: This is a patent which is derived from the patent D303913 described in (4) above and it is disclosed by the same author. The only difference between the two devices is that the water feed hose is attached to one end of this soaker-hose whereas, in the soaker-hose D303913 described above (4), the water feed hose is connected in the center of the soaker-hose length. Therefore, this soaker-hose suffers from the same limitations described above.
(6) U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,938: This patent describes a relatively large water tube which consists of two identical but separate halves of a doughnut-shaped circular tub which are positioned around the trunk of a tree. Water from inside the split, circular tub seeps into the ground around, and adjacent to, the trunk of a tree, thereby frustrating the requirement to keep water out of the ground immediately surrounding the trunk of the tree. If this tub were made sufficiently large in diameter to wet the ground solely around the outer drip-line of many trees it would have to be of an enormous, impractical size. Further, the cost of a unit such as this would be substantially higher than the cost of my device.
(7) U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,106: This patent describes a double-layer, laminated thermoplastic film in the form of a long linear tape, or duct. The two layers of film are laminated together in a pattern which forms a flat duct or water tube having regularly spaced orifices through the laminated seams which permit water from the internal, central duct to exit onto the surrounding ground. This invention has no relevance, either in form or in function, to my water distribution yoke.
(8) U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,627: This patent describes a large vertically-oriented spray hoop through which children may run and play, as they often do when they jump through the spray from a garden hose or a lawn sprinkler. It is intended to be in the category of toys and has no relevance to the problem and device which I am disclosing herein.